FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   60   61   62   63   64   65   66   67   68   69   70   71   72   73   >>  
aration of that happy meeting, Tournier could not but observe how feeble she was in every way. And when the first gush of joy was over, he saw it more plainly; and every day he noticed it increasingly. Where some stamina is left, a sudden stimulus may lead to permanent improvement, but when there is none, excitement only revives for the moment, and leaves the patient weaker than ever. So was it with the dear old lady. Those years of lonely sorrow, aggravated by uncertainty and bitter disappointment, had killed her; and Tournier had only come in time to make the last few months of her life her happiest ones for many a day past. One evening, as the end was drawing near, she suddenly said, "My son, what will you do when I am gone?" "Sweet mother," was his reply, "I shall trust in God to help me bear my sorrow patiently. I know He will." "Why not marry a wife? It is God's own remedy for man's loneliness." "Where shall I find one? I know no woman that I could trust _now_." Then, after a pause, he added, "And yet there is one I could trust. Yes, those blue eyes could be trusted. I would spurn the man who dared to say they could not." Then he told his mother all about Alice; and she listened with deepest interest, and a little flush came over her delicate pale face. But it became pale as before when he said, "Ah! mother mine, Alice Cosin is not for me, nor for anyone: she is bound for life to her good brother, and I would not break that lovely bond even if I could." In the autumn of 1815 she died, her eyes fixed to the last on her son. And when they closed for ever, it seemed to him that love unutterable was extinguished. But he took refuge in his God. It was hard work, however, to keep on living in the old place where everything reminded him so much of the past, both of joy and pain. He would have asked his friend, Villemet, to take compassion on his loneliness, and come and stay with him awhile; but the irrepressible fellow had gone off to the wars some time ago, and joined the army of Napoleon, distinguishing himself greatly at Waterloo. Again and again had Tournier's thoughts reverted to Alice Cosin, but each time he had repelled the pleasing idea as an impossibility. "How could I," he repeated, as the fair vision floated away, "for my selfish ends spoil the happiness of a friend like him?" Fortified by this resolution, he determined at length to find consolation in fulfilling his promise of
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   60   61   62   63   64   65   66   67   68   69   70   71   72   73   >>  



Top keywords:

Tournier

 

mother

 

sorrow

 
friend
 
loneliness
 

refuge

 
extinguished
 

unutterable

 

reminded

 

living


meeting
 

brother

 

lovely

 

observe

 

closed

 
autumn
 

vision

 

floated

 

selfish

 
repeated

impossibility

 
length
 

consolation

 

fulfilling

 

promise

 

determined

 

resolution

 
happiness
 

Fortified

 

pleasing


repelled

 

joined

 

fellow

 

irrepressible

 

compassion

 

awhile

 

Napoleon

 

thoughts

 

reverted

 

Waterloo


distinguishing

 

greatly

 

aration

 

Villemet

 

excitement

 

suddenly

 
evening
 

drawing

 

improvement

 

stimulus